


It's Bad Enough We Get Along

by wistfullywishing



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arguing, Childishness, Communication, Dating, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, is important!!!, possible movie spoilers???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 23:57:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13986054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wistfullywishing/pseuds/wistfullywishing
Summary: Baekhyun and Jongdae both know open communication is important, but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier.(Jongdae wishes Baekhyun wouldn't be so stubborn all the time.)





	It's Bad Enough We Get Along

**Author's Note:**

> I started this way back on national boyfriend day (in case ur curious how good i am at procrastinating) and I had angsty feelings and wanted to emphasize that free communication between two adults is important! and! healthy! My writing has lowkey changed prob since i haven’t done it in so long so sorry if this seems weird
> 
>  
> 
> AKA i’m sorry that this is so ugly it’s been a hot minute since i wrote anything and i seem to have lost the little skill that i’d accumulated
> 
>  
> 
> Unbeta-ed bc life is really busy and I didn't wanna bother my beta also bc this is just a lil thing I had lying around that I decided to finish bc im tryna find the inspiration to finish my fics for timeline and monsterfest hehe. i just rlly had to get writing again even if it's horrible. @ beta, if you're reading this: sorry for not telling u lol but i’m sure u have a lot more to deal w rn than my word messes (like that spanish packet) also ur officially not allowed to read this until u finish my limelight n exonaut fics lol. That said, anyone is welcome to point out mistakes!!
> 
> also, i guess this fic takes place two years ago when the force awakens came out idk
> 
>  
> 
> @baek, if u are jealous, u should let ur man know :)

 

“Baekhyun, I’ve told you to quit doing the dishes like that,” Jongdae chides gently, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge. “They’ll break.”

“Oh, yeah?” Baekhyun mutters, not even looking up from where he’s harshly scrubbing one dish after another and then tossing them haphazardly into a precarious-looking stack that looks two seconds away from falling over. “Why don’t you do them, then?”

“But I’m doing the laundry later, so it’s your turn to do the dishes.”

“Yeah, it’s like your first time doing laundry in a month.” Baekhyun’s words are short, clipped, and Jongdae can tell something’s bothering him even if Baekhyun hasn’t said so himself. He puts the milk back on the fridge door and shuts it, leaning his hip against the fridge in a deliberately casual manner.

“Something wrong?” he asks carefully.

“Nothing’s wrong,” says Baekhyun in a phony light-hearted voice that clearly means that  _ something is wrong _ . “I’m just tired of having to do everything around the apartment while you’re, I don’t know, frolicking after hours with your secretary and work pals or something.”

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae says, crossing the kitchen and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist from behind. He edges his chin onto Baekhyun’s shoulder. “I thought we talked about this already. I’m working overtime to help pay the rent, not going clubbing after hours with anyone.”

Baekhyun tenses, then momentarily pauses rinsing the dish in his hands to move Jongdae’s arms away from his middle. “I saw Minseok’s snapchat last Friday.”

Jongdae frowns. He’d gone drinking with Minseok and a few other work friends last Friday to celebrate getting new clients, but he’d told Baekhyun that he would be coming home late ahead of time. “That was only once,” he explains, hoping that Baekhyun isn’t getting the wrong idea. “All the other times were because of work.”

“If you say so.” Jongdae can tell that Baekhyun’s tone means that he isn’t forgiven yet, but at least the topic is being dropped for the time being. 

“So,” Jongdae tries to keep his voice steady at a conversational volume, unsure of why Baekhyun seems so prickly all of a sudden. “Wanna make cookies later? Like together? I promise I won’t burn anything this time.”

“I can’t,” says Baekhyun flatly. “I’m going to see Star Wars with Chanyeol.”

Jongdae feels his heart sink just the tiniest bit, but tries not to show it. “Oh. Right. How about tomorrow morning?”

“Ah, nope. Going to Kyungsoo’s.”

“Afternoon?”

“Gym with Chanyeol.”

“Are you avoiding me?” Jongdae finally asks, letting his voice carry just a bit of the surprise he feels. He hadn't thought that anything was wrong, but clearly Baekhyun feels different if he's purposely being difficult.

Baekhyun shuts off the water and turns around, narrowing his eyes at Jongdae. “Why would I be avoiding you?” he mocks. “Me avoiding you implies that you’re around often enough for me to avoid.”

So Baekhyun is angry about the extra work hours. He should've guessed. 

“I know you’re really close friends with Chanyeol and all, but you’ve been spending all your time with him recently and I never get to see you anymore,” Jongdae says slowly, frustrated that Baekhyun doesn’t seem to understand that he’s trying his hardest to make the best out of the situation. 

“Are you jealous? You and I, we live together. I see you every day first thing when I wake up,” Baekhyun responds, rapidly drying his hands and then tossing the towel onto the kitchen counter. In the next instant, before Jongdae can try to reason with him, he's pushing his way past Jongdae and out of the kitchen. “Maybe that’s the issue.”

Jongdae is hot on his heels, finally feeling the beginnings of anger settle in his chest. “What is your problem?” he demands, raising his voice unintentionally. Baekhyun is the only one who pushes his buttons like this, frustrates him to no end, which always makes Jongdae want to either punch or kiss him. 

“You always complain about me going out with my friends, but then when I want to do stuff like housework together, you always need to work,” Baekhyun shouts back from the front door as he’s bending down to lace his shoes. “Don’t you think asking me to make time for you is hypocritical since you can’t seem to do the same?”

“Baekhyun, you know how much I need to keep the job,” Jongdae pleads, voice pitching into a whine. It does nothing to dissipate the storm cloud hovering over Baekhyun’s head, which only grows darker. 

“That’s fantastic, Jongdae. Really great. I’m done talking about this.” Then Baekhyun steps out the door and slams it shut behind him.

Jongdae is less hurt than outraged. He knew Baekhyun was stubborn when they were first assigned as roommates in college - if he’s honest, that was part of the other boy’s charm, how he never let anyone else tell him what he was capable of accomplishing by himself - and also a reason as to why they became fast friends and later started dating. But shutting down communication without coming to a resolution is counterproductive to everyone’s interests (and it makes for a really awkward and uncomfortable living situation, Jongdae thinks sullenly). He grabs his phone, off of the coffee table, planning on calling Baekhyun, but then he catches sight of the Yoda cell charm hanging from the device, the one that was a gift from the other boy for Jongdae’s 24th birthday.

Jongdae stops to consider for a moment, then searches up the plot summary of Star Wars.

_ Kylo Ren kills Han Solo _ , he texts Baekhyun five minutes later. He does it before he can stop to analyze the repercussions or talk himself into being a better person, and it gives him mad satisfaction, since Baekhyun wants to act like a child instead of a civilized adult. 

A short while later, Jongdae is putting the clean dishes back in the cabinets when he hears the sound of keys being inserted into the front door and the click of a lock before Baekhyun throws open the door and stands there in the doorway, glaring at Jongdae with poorly disguised fury.

“How was the movie?” Jongdae asks lightly. If his heart is hammering in his chest, well, that’s no one’s business but his own. 

“Ask Chanyeol,” Baekhyun sneers, yanking off his shoes and jacket. For a moment, Jongdae thinks that Baekhyun will throw the sneaker at his head, but then Baekhyun is letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thud that sounds like how Jongdae’s heart feels. 

“Maybe I will,” says Jongdae, too prideful to back down first.

“You’re an asshole,” Baekhyun informs him, then storms his way into the kitchen. Jongdae almost expects him to start throwing punches - he looks positively exploding with rage - but Baekhyun just wrenches the fridge door open and starts pulling items out.

Jongdae watches him remove the milk, eggs, and butter and shove them onto the counter before it occurs to him that maybe he should worry, because he doesn't put it above an angry Baekhyun to perhaps ruin all the food in the apartment so that they’re forced to starve to death. “What are you doing?”

Baekhyun ignores him and marches over to the pantry, fetching sugar and flour from the stocked shelves. Jongdae tries again, putting more force behind his words.

“Baekhyun, what are you doing?”

Baekhyun whips around and slams the flour down on the kitchen island so hard that the bag tears in one corner and flour spills out. “We’re making cookies,” he growls. “Are you happy now?”

Jongdae’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline, because he was expecting Baekhyun to declare his hatred for him or maybe jump over the island and strangle him - anything but cookies. Not cookies. “Now you want to make the cookies?” he asks in surprise, rounding the island to close the pantry door before Baekhyun can do damage to any more of their food stock. 

“You wanted to make cookies so we’re going to make the damn cookies because apparently you’re the fucking boss of everything and you can have fucking double standards and I can’t and everything has to be done your way and I can’t even go see a movie in fucking peace and-” Baekhyun lets out a strangled sort of screech, his hands locking around a space in midair that looks to be about the width of Jongdae’s neck, before he closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. After a moment of composing himself, he opens his eyes again and stares at Jongdae with a dead expression, lips pressed into a thin line. “Do you want chocolate chips or not?”

Jongdae stares back, his features betraying a mixture of hurt and sheer bewilderment at the ridiculousness of Baekhyun’s question. His hand is still pressed against the pantry door, and all of a sudden, Jongdae wonders how his fingers would look fisted in Baekhyun's shirt instead. 

“I  _ said _ ,” Baekhyun repeats dully, a little bit louder. “Do you fucking want-”

Quick as lightning, Jongdae yanks Baekhyun close by his shirt collar and kisses him, hard, because it’s the only way he can get Baekhyun to shut up for the time being. He presses Baekhyun into the kitchen island with his hip, pouring all of his frustration and anger into the kiss; nipping and biting and licking into Baekhyun’s mouth until there’s nothing of his irritation left, all of it having melted away. Baekhyun gives as good as he gets, his arms going to wrap around Jongdae’s neck and tugging their bodies flush. They stay entwined in their game of tug and war for what seems like hours, until Baekhyun is the first one to pull away.

“Why did you do that?” Baekhyun asks, eyes darting between Jongdae’s gaze and lips like he’s not sure where to look first.

“Because I hate you,” Jongdae lies, leaning in to attack Baekhyun’s neck. “Not really,” he mumbles against the heated skin. “But I was mad at you, and you wouldn't  _ stop talking _ .”

Baekhyun grabs the back of his head, tangling his fingers into Jongdae’s hair, and tugs him upwards back into another breath-stealing kiss. Jongdae lets down his guard, relaxing under Baekhyun’s touch.

And then Baekhyun pulls away and dumps his bag of flour over Jongdae’s head.

Jongdae blinks, not quite registering what just happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the fridge door still open.

They both stare at each other while flour slowly falls from Jongdae’s bangs, looking like white snow calmly presiding over the scene. If anything, Jongdae is more upset about the waste of perfectly good flour than the fact that he’ll be spending extra long in the shower later. He vaguely wonders if they still have enough undamaged flour to make cookies.

Silence. 

“I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. I had to.” Baekhyun is wide-eyed and finally looks afraid as he stammers his apology, as though it’s finally occuring to him that maybe Jongdae will throw him out of the apartment or break up with him, or both.

Jongdae could accept Baekhyun’s apology and they could both move on with their lives like the mature adults they absolutely aren’t. Or, Jongdae could pounce on Baekhyun and push him to the ground, and then proceed to  _ destroy _ him until the childishness is out of both of their systems. 

Which is, of course, exactly what he does.

Somewhere in between rolling around in the flour and tossing handfuls of it into Baekhyun’s hair while the other lets out undignified shrieks that Jongdae wishes he could’ve gotten on recording, both of them forget to be mad at the other. Jongdae pauses every once in a while to press Baekhyun into the kitchen floor and kiss him hard, and judging from the way that Baekhyun’s fingers are scrambling at Jongdae’s belt, there’s a good chance that the night will end in fantastic, wild make up sex.

(Spoiler: it does.)

Later, they’re cuddling in bed when Jongdae looks up meaningfully and says, “Baekhyun.” If Baekhyun noticies the slightest tremble in his voice, he doesn’t mention it.

And Baekhyun meets his eyes and silently motions for him to go on. 

Jongdae says, “I’m sorry, Baek.” 

Baekhyun sniffles.

“It was wrong of me to spoil your movie and say those things. I love you. Forgive me?” His boyfriend nods quickly, pretending that the tear that slips from his eye is from allergies. 

Baekhyun’s hand curls around Jongdae’s. “I love you, too,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry that we argued.”

“Promise that in the future you’ll talk to me if you’re unhappy? We can’t make changes if we don’t know how the other is feeling, Baek.” 

“I promise, Dae.”

Maybe it was that simple all along. This wasn’t their first time arguing, and it certainly won’t be the last, but Jongdae knows that despite their relationship’s imperfections, the both of them still care most about each other. As if proving his thoughts, Baekhyun twists his upper body and plants a sweet, slow kiss on Jongdae’s cheek. 

After a while of exchanging kisses back and forth, they fall asleep, clutching each other tightly. Baekhyun has a fist in Jongdae’s t-shirt, Jongdae has a leg thrown over Baekhyun’s calves, and the tiny Chewbacca plush that Jongdae got Baekhyun for Christmas sits on their dresser, smiling.

 

(The next morning, Baekhyun calls Kyungsoo and apologizes for canceling on him, and Kyungsoo doesn’t even sound the slightest bit mad when he says, “Tell Jongdae I said hi, Baekhyunnie!”

Turns out they have just enough flour left in the apartment for one batch of cookies.)

 

 

(“Jongdae, you  _ said _ you weren’t going to burn them this time!”

“Shut up, it’s your fault! I wouldn’t have left them in the oven for too long if  _ someone _ didn’t keep trying to make out on the couch.”)

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> +They have matching star wars t shirts bc they’re nerds  
> +Baek cancels his gym w chanyeol too and him & dae spend their afternoon trying to stuff cookies in each others mouths
> 
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> 
> (let's be friends on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/wistfullywishes)! ♡)


End file.
